lucky or unlucky with home cooking?

[longernohuman]

Hello all,

How lucky or unlucky you are with home cooking?

I'm unlucky

 

[Daggot]

Cooking is just something you need to practice and get a feel for it yourself. Some just get better at it earlier than others. The whole reason I was able to survive on my own because my parents always had me in the kitchen even if I wasn't as enthusiastic as I am today. A good quote from my father was "A man needs to know how to feed himself". It's a valuable skill but not unobtainable.

That said I know some people who would burn my place down if cooking unadvised so at least get someone who knows what they're doing to watch over you so you can learn by watching and identify mistakes as they happen.

 

[DinohScene]

I got a boyfriend who cooks for me.
Delish food!
He's even attending a course in cooking to become a cook in a restaurant.

 

[FAST6191]

Probably would fail at running a professional kitchen if I was dropped into one this evening, however I can cook, figure out stuff from remains in the fridge/cupboard and pull things back or substitute if I go overboard or find myself lacking certain ingredients. I am all about the laziness (got to love having a wok), save for when it comes to pie which is serious business (as in I will plait a lattice rather than go solid sheet or one of those rollers).
The second part there with being able to figure out and pull things back (and know weights/volumes by looking and what you are doing) is a proper skill, however making something from a recipe book (or website I suppose) is still valid compared to sticking something from the freezer into the oven. Getting to that second part usually starts with being able to bias recipes to your preference (in my case I adore cinnamon, however most UK types seem to measure in teaspoons what I measure in tablespoons + a bit more for a good measure), or if you decide you like flaky pastry more than shortcrust then make your pie with that instead. I am not sure what books I can suggest that have solid basics in -- a lot of stuff from the 30s through early 70s is what I look to for this but finding that now tends to mean a lot of car boot sales and charity shops, and even then it is tricky (I try to pick them up for my mum so I am always on the lookout). The 70s was an interesting time for UK food and saw a lot of prices rise rather quickly (enough that you might find news reports from the time about it), a lot of premade stuff come in (the US saw that in the 50s, see stuff like angel delight) and even something as basic as a fridge was newfangled and possibly untrusted tech. After that it is harder to get stuff worth looking at, I do find it though but I know what I am looking for there. The only thing I will say is I really advise against salting your vegetables when boiling them -- I am told people do it because they the extra colour it retained was healthy, and saltwater does boil quicker I guess, however neither are good reasons for me.

Makes life cheap being able to cook in the UK, I find that harder in some other countries though where ingredients cost more and going out is not an extravagance.

 

[longernohuman]

Cooking is just something you need to practice and get a feel for it yourself. Some just get better at it earlier than others. The whole reason I was able to survive on my own because my parents always had me in the kitchen even if I wasn't as enthusiastic as I am today. A good quote from my father was "A man needs to know how to feed himself". It's a valuable skill but not unobtainable.

That said I know some people who would burn my place down if cooking unadvised so at least get someone who knows what they're doing to watch over you so you can learn by watching and identify mistakes as they happen.

I know how to cook, but only five easy meals at best
a couple days ago, I tried something new, chinese pasta! sadly I put more salt than I should! so it wasn't good at all

I'm planning to teach myself.

 

[VinsCool]

I'm the one cooking here. My GF sucks at this, so I am the one preparing delicious meals